By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Jeremy Clements started Saturday with a surprising fifth-place qualifying effort at Bristol Motors Speedway.
He finished even better.
Rolling off with a career-best starting spot, Clements drove his No. 51 Chevrolet to a fourth-place finish in the Food City 300, capturing only his third-career top-five finish in 321 Xfinity Series starts.
“A top five is pretty good. It’s badass, it’s great,” Clements said. “We were right there. If the [Nos.] 2 or anyone else would’ve had a problem, we would’ve been right there to capitalize on it and win this damn thing.”
Though a win wasn’t in store for the family-owned team, fourth place stands as only his second top-10 finish in 2019. Additionally, it was his first top five since his upset victory at Road America two years ago.
“I thought we were going to get third. Unfortunately, the No. 23 [John Hunter Nemechek] moved us really good on the last lap, about wrecked me,” he said. “I’m glad we didn’t wreck, there were a lot of people having problems, treacherous track for sure.”
In a season of common struggle for one of the series’ most well-known small teams, Saturday night was a big night for the No. 51 crew.
“I’m just really proud of this team for all their effort and hard work,” he said. “We really work our tails off every week. This is probably my favorite month of the season. A lot of good tracks, road courses, Bristol, Darlington. I love it.
“I’m ready to go to Road America and kick their ass there.”
Purchasing cars from Chip Ganassi Racing following their departure from the series to start 2019, Clements is happy to see consistency building with new updates.
“We found a package we like,” he sad. “We’ve been running the same front springs everywhere. It seems to be working [laughs]. You always want to try to make it better but I don’t think we’re going to. That’s how it goes, you find something that works and you stick with it. That’s what we’re doing now.
“If we can just improve our engine program some, we’re down in that department. They continue to try. I feel bad saying that since it’s my dad and uncle. But I’m proud of our effort, we worked really hard to do this.”